CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Soybean barge basis steady-up on Chinese buying

CHICAGO, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Basis bids for soybeans shipped by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals were unchanged to higher on Monday, traders said, after China bought old-crop and new-crop U.S. supplies.

• Exporters sold 396,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans to China, including 330,000 metric tons for delivery in 2025/2026 and 66,000 metric tons for 2026/2027 delivery, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.

• China's purchase for 2026/27 showed that it needed the soybeans in a new-crop position, rather than now, an analyst said.

• The USDA reported total U.S. soybean export sales were about 1.6 million metric tons in the week ended on December 4, including about 1 million tons sold to China for 2025/26. Analysts expected a total of 800,000 to 2 million metric tons.

• U.S. officials have said China agreed to buy American soybeans as part of a trade truce reached in late October. However, China has grappled with a glut after turning to South America for supplies during its trade dispute with Washington.

• Consultancy AgRural raised its forecast for Brazil's 2025/26 soybean production to 180.4 million metric tons and said farmers had started harvesting in certain areas.

• CIF bids for soybean barges loaded in December were up 1 cent at 93 cents over Chicago Board of Trade January soybean SF26 futures, while CIF bids for January loadings were steady at 94 cents over futures.

• FOB export premiums for soybeans were flat. Offers for vessels loaded in January were at 110 cents over CBOT January futures and offers for February shipments at 105 cents over March SH26 futures.

• For corn, U.S. export sales were 1.5 million metric tons in the week that ended on December 4, according to the USDA.

• On Tuesday, the agency is slated to issue weekly grain and soy export sales data for the week that ended on December 11.

• CIF December corn barges were bid 6 cents higher at 80 cents over CBOT March corn CH26 futures, while January bids were up 1 cent at 83 cents over futures.

• FOB export premiums for January corn shipments were steady at about 97 cents over March futures.

For displays of CIF basis, click on the codes in brackets:

U.S. CIF Gulf soybeans GRYM

U.S. CIF Gulf corn GRYN

U.S. CIF Gulf SRW wheat GRYO

U.S. CIF Gulf HRW wheat GRYP

For displays of FOB basis, please click on the following codes in brackets:

U.S. FOB Gulf corn GRZC

U.S. FOB Gulf soybeans GRZD

U.S. FOB Gulf SRW wheat GRZE

U.S. FOB Gulf HRW wheat GRZF LINKS

Corn prices page: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageid=corn-cash-market

Wheat prices page: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageid=wheat-cash-market

U.S. barge freight BG/US

U.S. export sales estimates USDA/EST

U.S. grain export summary GRA/U

Brazil soybean export prices SYBS

Brazil corn export prices SYBX

Argentina grain prices GRA/ARG

Russia grain prices GRA/RU